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Sam Cooke
Research Interests:
I am interested in testing the dogma that synapses serve as the primary site of information storage in the brain. A great many studies have been conducted over the past few decades that demonstrate the existence of forms of synaptic plasticity that have properties appropriate to memory mechanisms. With increasing understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these physiological phenomena, through pharmacology and molecular biology experiments, it has been possible to demonstrate that deficits in such forms of plasticity correlate with deficits in memory. More recently, lasting changes in the strength of synapses in various brain structures have been observed to occur as animals undergo experience. However, we have yet to demonstrate a causal relationship between synaptic plasticity and memory. I am currently attempting to conduct interventional experiments that determine the necessity and sufficiency of synaptic plasticity in storing particular sorts of behaviourally relevant information.
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